Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, has commended Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke for intervening in the case of Segun Olowookere, who was sentenced to death for stealing a fowl and eggs.
Olowookere and his accomplice, Morakinyo Sunday, were arrested in 2010 for breaking into the homes of a police officer and another individual.
In 2014, Justice Falola of the Osun State High Court sentenced them to death by hanging after finding them guilty of burglary and theft.
The judgment sparked widespread outrage, prompting Governor Adeleke’s intervention, which Obi praised as a necessary and humane action.
“I commend Governor Ademola Adeleke for stepping in to prevent the inhumane punishment of death by hanging for the theft of a fowl and eggs, an offense for which the individual had already spent 14 years in prison.
That sentence alone far exceeded the demands of justice, if the crime warranted such consideration in the first place,” Obi said in a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account on Friday.
Obi criticized the broader inequities of the Nigerian judicial system, stating, “This case underscores the harsh inequalities of the Nigerian legal system.
If you dare to speak freely, you are treated as a criminal and silenced.
If you embezzle billions of public funds, you are celebrated, even when caught and taken to court.
Yet, those pursuing honest, legitimate businesses are burdened by oppressive regulations and treated with suspicion, as though success through integrity is a crime.”
He described the current system as one that “rewards impunity while punishing integrity,” calling for urgent judicial reform and genuine accountability in governance.
